The Short SEO Guide For eCommerce Startups

Many online merchants falsely believe that all they have to do to acquire search engine traffic is to simply list hundreds or thousands of products on their websites.

However, in all actuality, the process of optimized an eCommerce website for search engine optimization purposes to secure high rankings, is relatively harder than it is for a traditional blog or a squeeze page.

This is due to the fact that eCommerce sites have an abundance of product pages that are continuously shifting on and off their site as a result of product availability, such as taking down a page for a product that the merchant no longer sells for example. Therefore, you need to be more creative when it comes to formulating an eCommerce SEO strategy.

Implement A Product Reviews Section

Did you know that statistics demonstrate that 70% of online buyers search for reviews before they elect to utilize a product or service? What this entails as far as eCommerce SEO purposes go, is that if you fail to implement a product review system on your site, you are essentially missing out on the opportunity to acquire traffic from those specific search terms. Additionally, a reviews section can lead to user-generated content which keeps your product pages fresh and crawlable, which Google values for SEO.

For example, if your eCommerce store sells custom made iPhone cases, one keyword you could easily focus on by utilizing a product review system is "iPhone custom made cases reviews."

Focus On Long Tail Keywords (And Write A Detailed Product Description)

If you run a eCommerce store that sells handmade clothing, your targeted keywords for your eCommerce SEO strategy should not be short-tail phrases such as "handmade clothing." The reason being is that short tail keywords are significantly harder to rank than it is to rank for a long tail keyword such as "horror themed handmade shirts for sale" or "buy black and white handmade shirt online."

The point being is that you should focus on long tail keywords as opposed to short key phrases because you will be able to rank a page for the specific term significantly easier than the latter. This is where the implementation of a product description section comes in handy. Utilize it as a canvas to include some long tail keywords as well as to provide your visitors with some enticing information.

Don't Neglect Local Traffic

Did you know that big retail chains do local SEO as well? The concept of avoiding the possibility of adopting local SEO as a part of your entire eCommerce SEO strategy is a big mistake. In fact, people enjoy the concept of supporting locally owned businesses. Additionally, people are well aware of the fact that they will be able to receive a product that they purchased online from a locally based business, much faster than that of a mega corporation.

Create A Sitemap

A sitemap is essentially a list of all your web pages. Search engines utilize what's referred to as spiders, robots or crawlers to locate new pages on a website to index. They usually find these pages through links from other pages. If a sitemap is not identified during an initial audit of your eCommerce site, than you need to create on.

However, main pages that are only accessible by forms, connected to videos or flash content, are not seen by the programs that the search engine uses to index new pages. This is where a sitemap comes in. While they don't necessarily improve your rankings on its own, it provides a road map that robots can use to know what to rank in the first place.

Establish A Powerful Social Presence

One of the things you can do to increase the amount of traffic that your website gains is to leverage social media by establishing a strong social presence via the utilization of content marketing. Some of the benefits your store stands to gain by doing this, includes:

• Customer research - You will be able to see what your target demographic cares about the most, their interests, as well as the conversations they have about the things that they like.
• Customer Service - By establishing a social media presence, you will be able to quickly respond to your customer's inquiries.
• Customer Acquisition - Your social media profile will essentially operate as a storefront that you can use to acquire more customers.

For more information on how to build the eCommerce SEO program for your startup, visit Click Centric SEO Company for a wealth of resources and services all focal to eCommerce SEO.

The Authority for Machine Embroidery Designs: Windstar Embroidery

Windstar Embroidery has earned a notable online reputation for providing an incredible selection of machine embroidery designs in various categories. Through Windstar Embroidery's website, these sewing machine embroidery designs can be purchased and used immediately noting that downloads are instant. 

There is no doubting that Windstar Embroidery is an authority but as you might wonder, what is so special about the company and their machine embroidery designs?

Windstar Embroidery's "A+" Rating at BBB.org

To begin with, the company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. It might seem so obvious that companies should be rated A+ by BBB but on the contrary, only the very best reach these heights of achievement.

Normally, an A+ rate means that there have been very few complaints about both products and other aspects of the business including customer care services. It also implies that the designs developed by Windstar Embroidery are of top notch quality. If you have not heard about the Better Business Bureau before, it is an organization which provides unbiased information about a business’s credibility to potential customers.

Incredible Offering of Embroidery Designs for Machines

Another of the reasons why Windstar Embroidery gains so much favor with enthusiasts is its infinite list of designs which are put in categories for easy searching. As they put it, the professionals at Windstar have a soft spot for Christian designs and enjoy developing and researching about them.

However, they also have extensive product listings on categories like Redwork machine embroidery designs, Christmas designs and Celtic designs. Other popular categories are inclusive of wedding and bridal designs, sayings and phrases and fantasy designs. Actually, anything you want will be readily available here.

Impeccable Customer Service & Support

One of the things a potential customer should always have in mind is that the professionals at Windstar Embroidery are passionate and highly motivated. It then follows that apart from the designs, you will find useful bits of information on the topic. Just to touch on some topics of interest, you will find out how each design was developed and the inspiration behind it.

On Windstar Embroidery's website, a customer will never be restricted to minimum purchase. Apparently, this policy is used by majority of developers and is aimed at making the companies substantial proceeds by setting the minimum amount a customer has to part with each time they need to make a purchase. Windstar Embroidery allows you to make a purchase for just one design which is favorable to many a customer with tight budgets and those who feel that they shouldn’t be forced into spending.

In addition, they do not demand membership fees and will enroll you in their customers reward program after your first order which is designed to help you save some of your cash especially if you will make several repeat orders.

With data security breaches on the high, it is important to ensure that a website is secure before shopping on it. Windstar Embroidery assures you of 100% secure shopping and not to forget that your purchase will be ready for an instant download immediately after completing the checkout process. Alternatively, you can choose to have the designs emailed to you. For inspiration, the website also has a gallery of pictures which highlight how customers have used the designs they purchased in their projects.

5 Essential Ecommerce SEO & Website Optimization Tips

The importance of website optimization and SEO for ecommerce companies is becoming more important every day. With increasing use of the Google search to find specific products, ecommerce SEO and website optimization has become one of the most powerful and relevant ways of getting your business known.

Below we go into specific detail on how you can leverage the power of ecommerce SEO and website optimization, and in the right manner.

1. Choosing the right keywords for ecommerce SEO

The one thing that most people don't understand is how plausible or long it may take to actually rank for product-related keywords. Ecommerce companies must ensure their ecommerce SEO efforts are focal, and not spread to thin. In short, the average ecommerce company is not going to rank for "t-shirts," but it might be able to rank for "custom neon t-shirts" in time. Establishing focal goals and expectations is critical for any ecommerce SEO strategy.

2. Making sure that keywords are used correctly

Keyword optimization is a central part of ecommerce SEO, and the process needs to be taken very mindfully. Like mentioned above, the first thing that has to be addressed is the selection of the righty keywords. These have to be very closely related to the service or product being offered on the website.

It's typically best option is to go for less keywords rather than more when performing keyword optimization on a website.. An ecommerce site that's chosen to target 5-10 keywords for SEO, is likely to attain better rankings compared to a site that has over 50 keywords for its SEO strategy. The fact that this approach makes other aspects of SEO much easier (such as content generation) is also worth noting.

The other aspect of keyword optimization is the fact that the keywords have to be strategically located throughout the website. Some of the locations in which they have to be include in the page title, the meta description, and page copy, such as headers, body copy, and linking. In addition to that, it's wise to have the primary keyword targets within the first few sentences of page copy to achieve timely results.

3. Careful selection of anchor text for your links

The other issue you need to keep in mind while doing ecommerce SEO for your company is how to select your anchor text properly, especially when doing internal linking. The quality of the anchor text will play a role in determining the quality of the internal links, and this will in turn have an effect on SEO. The anchor text needs to be related to the content of the site, rather than being ambiguous. For instance, you could opt to use one of the keywords or related phrases as the anchor text, as opposed to generic anchor text like "click here."

4. Eliminating broken links and HTML errors

One of the things that always have an negative effect on the page rank of any website is broken links, especially when those links are linking pages within the same website. To avoid this, it’s always a good idea to be proactive in reducing the incidence of broken links. There are a number of applications that can be used to verify all the links within a website automatically, and you could subscribe to one of these.

The fact that they do it fast means that even if you have a large website, you can closely keep an eye on all the internal links, and correct any broken ones. In addition to enhancing ecommerce SEO, this also makes it easier for your customers to get around by eliminating pesky HTML coding errors.

5. Quality SEO link building

One of the most effective ways of increasing the authority, and more importantly, ranking of your ecommerce is by building links from other sites. However, you need to be careful with how this is done, since there are many risks when making mistakes.

Ideally, you should only build links from sites that are thematically related to your website. For instance, if your doing ecommerce SEO for an automotive parts website, you would need to make sure that most of the links leading to your online store have something to do with the automobiles, parts, and related topics.

These are just a few of the things that might need to be done in order to improve your company's ecommerce SEO efforts. However, these are very potent and esstential tips to keep in mind and so should never be ignored.

One way of making sure that all the above are addressed is by searching for the best ecommerce SEO company that meets your businesses needs, style, and budge restraints. Although ecommerce SEO services come at expense, some companies tailor custom packages based on the unique nature of the SEO project. With quality ecommerce SEO services, a professional company is likely to do all the above and more in a very effective way.

Essential Elements of a Successful Ecommerce Marketing Strategy

The Internet has provided a free and fair ground for all levels of retail businesses to carry out ecommerce marketing plans. The following components of online marketing are among the most critical that make up a successful ecommerce marketing strategy.

A Sound Ecommerce Business Model 

Having a business model prior to launching an ecommerce store creates a clearer picture of the resources required as well as the risks involved in the business. A business model incorporates the business vision and mission together with all important tactics involved in the success of ecommerce marketing.

A Precise Customer Profile

With a clear business model in place, an ecommerce business owner is able to identify the target audience. Customers are the most valuable users of an ecommerce website and understanding their needs with relation to the products on sale earns their loyalty and keeps the business relevant.

Deliverable Products

An ecommerce store displays all available products on customer friendly interfaces briefly describing them individually with price tags attached. These products will sell better when the customer’s needs are considered while producing and packaging and even when advertising on different internet marketing platforms.

Social Media Marketing

Marketing ecommerce products require an aggressive marketing strategy which is made easier with the proper use of Social Media Marketing. Leading social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have enabled businesses of all sizes to market their products to their specific target market and eventually saving them money. Other social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest are well utilized by ecommerce marketers for their ability to share images and video clips to advertise their products.

Content Marketing

The impact of blogs and podcasts in ecommerce marketing has continued to prove the importance of content in any form of internet marketing. Product descriptions and reviews are key elements of any ecommerce web content. More than 60% of customers are now known to be searching online for reviews and descriptions of all the products they need before making the decision to buy. This means that an ecommerce marketer who creates appealing content for their products attracts more visitors to the online store.

Ecommerce Search Marketing

For customers to be drawn to ecommerce websites outside the realm of social media marketing, search engines play a major role in sending pre-qualified visitors to the site. A customer who requires a certain product normally uses the search engine to find all the information about the product.

However, with millions of results in most searches being displayed on the search engines, users are known to only focus on the information available on the first page of the search engine results. This means that a successful ecommerce website that ranks high on leading search engines will stand a greater chance of attracting the users.

Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key tool to creating relevant content and getting an ecommerce site to the top search engine positions. Another successful method of ecommerce marketing using search engines is Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. This form of ecommerce search marketing makes use of Google AdWords and Bing AdCenter to create ads in the search engine results.

Mobile Marketing

The most influential form of ecommerce marketing for the future will be mobile phone apps which are already gaining popularity with users. Mobile apps and websites provide the same environment found in a computer only with added advantages of mobility.

Top 3 Directories for Ecommerce SEO Projects

Inbound links remain to be the most influential factor in determining keyword rankings. For uber-competitive ecommerce SEO projects, attaining quality inbound links is a must.

However, link building for ecommerce SEO is not easy. Link sharing is sketchy, and guest blogging poses many limitations for ecommerce sites. But then there are always directory submissions. Ah yes, directories, the classic source of building some inbound links for SEO.

Nowadays, it's very important which directories you choose. Some are down-right risky and can raise a big red flag for Google to come and penalize you. However, some directories are credible, trusted, and very SEO-friendly.

If you own or do marketing for an ecommerce site, then here are the top 3 directories to help your ecommerce SEO project:

DMOZ! Directory

Okay, so there's not actually an exclamation point after "DMOZ," but I personally think this directory deserves one (and it also sounds cool when you say it with such emphasis.)

When it comes to classic SEO, this is about as classic as it gets. Dmoz.org has been around for a long, long time, and it's a highly trusted and authoritative directory (homepage is PageRank 7 [and many category-level pages are PageRank 3+]). Additionally, the link you can get is a succulent DoFollow.

Find the most relevant category for your ecommerce site. Once you've pinpointed the most precise category in the DMOZ directory, click the "submit a site" option in the top right. In time (and assuming your ecommerce site is legit,) you can have an awesome, natural, and SEO-friendly link pointing to your ecommerce site.

Elib.org International Directory

At Elib.org (another righteous, PageRank 5 directory for ecommerce SEO,) there are 3 different kinds of submissions: Basic, Express, and Sponsored. The sponsored submission is pretty sweet if you're doing ecommerce SEO, because you can create five additional "internal" links in the description of your site's profile. However, all require some form of payment.

The other two options are fine as well. Like DMOZ, search through Elib.org to find the category the best matches your ecommerce site. You'll also need to go through the process of finding the precise location of your ecommerce business (found just below the product categories).

Once you have narrowed down both the location and the most relevant product category, you'll then see the "Add URL" link. Now you can get to business and build your directory listing.

Yahoo! Directory

So Yahoo! Directory (yes, the exclamation point after "Yahoo" is supposed to be there,) is a doozy. In addition to Google, it has also been known to uplift keyword rankings even further in Bing and Yahoo search. In short, Yahoo! Directory is wickedly authoritative and offers a top-quality inbound link for your ecommerce SEO project.

The down side is the price for a directory listing on Yahoo!. It's $299 per year, which to some companies is a bit out-of-budget. But if your ecommerce marketing budget does allow for this investment, it's one of the best links you can get.

Visit Yahoo! Directory's retail section and in the top right you'll see the option to "Suggest a Site" (a bit misleading considering they take you directly to a page with a price tag.) If you got the funds, get it done. If you provide ecommerce SEO services, then this is one you'll definitely want to use for your clients.

So that wraps up this post on the top three directories for ecommerce SEO. There's definitely more options out there, but do proceed with caution. There are numerous web directories that are sketchy as all get out (whatever that means.)


This article was contributed by Tyler Tafelsky, lead ecommerce SEO analyst at Click Centric SEO, a full-service ecommerce SEO company that offers a wide spectrum of marketing solutions for ecommerce sites.

One Ecommerce Web Design Company Reigns King

For online retailers, an effective ecommerce website design is the platform to which their business goals are intrinsically relied upon. Much like the space on which a business establishment stands, the website is the ultimate grounds for a company’s Internet presence. It is therefore paramount to have an ecommerce website design that attracts customers and showcases all your brands at the same time. But how do you ensure this? Like most business ventures, working towards your goals is necessary.

Web Chefs offers effective and affordable ecommerce website designs targeted towards reaching your online goals in an easy, effective and cost efficient way. Whatever the size of your online business, Web Chefs caters to virtually any website needs. Web Chefs' web template designs are geared towards achieving desirable results in many ways.

Ecommerce website design templates from Web Chefs can be fully customized to your specifications. You can start showcasing your top products, feature your unique selling points, and advertise incentives to your customers. Designed to be search engine friendly, you have the option to enhance SEO performance with easy optimization features. Support services are available if you decide to grab the opportunity to build a better foundation for your website. Web Chefs' team of web designers confer with the company's SEO team regularly to ensure that they come up not only with attractive designs but will also work towards getting a high rank in the search engines. Creative, cost-efficient and sales-effective, the expert web designers of Web Chefs focus on infusing unique features of your brand into an original ecommerce web design.

Web Chefs assures that your satisfaction is guaranteed. In fact, each package comes with a money back guarantee. Complete customization ensures that you will acquire the website you have envisioned right down to the specific colors and tone of content. For your ecommerce website needs, you can choose among five equally outstanding templates in the 3000 series. All can be fully customized according to your needs and preferences. While Web Chefs is known for their expertise in small business web designs, they are equally capable of handing you a website that caters to a much larger audience. Their highly flexible ecommerce web template designs can be perfectly suited to your needs. Providing remarkable customer service and support, Web Chefs has solved the challenges faced by numerous website owners.


Web Chefs’ goal is to design an effective yet reasonably priced website designs for your specific needs. Offering an ecommerce website solutions tailored just for you, you can expect a website that will work only towards your best interests. If you're interested in what Web Chefs can do for you, why not check out their design gallery? Visit the Web Chefs website today at small-business-web-designers.com.

The Best CMS for Ecommerce

Content management systems were developed to make it easier for administrators with limited technical know-how to easily edit, update and generally manage their websites. Ranging from blogs to cutting edge full e-commerce websites, these systems can help you maximize the potential of your business. Among these systems one that is offered by a website design company is Exponent CMS. It is a system known to ensure that you can make your website the best that it can be, thanks to its powerful content management features. Exponent is an open source ecommerce cms and includes features that you’ll find most helpful when you are in the process of managing your website.


Online Innovative Creations or OIC is the maker of Exponent which is ecommerce cms software. Unlike other management tools, Exponent does not require you to download additional applications to be allowed to use it. The software practically does everything that a good website content management system is supposed to do. Generally, it enables the administrator or anybody with the proper permissions to create and manage a website, conveniently and easily manage the content on the pages and manage where these pages are supposed to be placed on the website. However, the advantage of Exponent stems from the fact that all these tasks are done in a completely unique way. Exponent offers a variety of features including customer and user accounts, easy order management, event registration, full product browsing, payment and billing methods, promotions and discounts, search engine friendly E-commerce cms, secure customer checkout and shipping methods.


Many of Exponent’s functionality in terms of website content management are modular. OIC used modules because they can be dropped to easily and quickly add much new functionality to your website. Some of what Exponent offers is calendar of events, news publishing and syndication system, web blog, image gallery and podcasts. Ecommerce CMS developers praise the simplicity with which Exponent can be used. While it is radically new and unique way of editing website content, it is flexible and easy which makes it very user friendly even to administrators whose experience in CMS is not wide. Online Innovative Creations boasts of a “What you see is what you get” user interface for Exponent. Administrators can readily edit website content as it is displayed and gets rid of meticulous and cumbersome backend editing.


Online Innovative Creations developed Exponent because this website design company understands that one of the most difficult challenges that an online merchant faces is getting customers to patronize their website. The most preferred search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN and this is where potential customers start their journey towards finding your website. Therefore, it is essential that the ecommerce system you choose should also take this into consideration. OIC’s Exponent CMS software has an excellent set of SEO and online selling tools to ensure that traffic should come your website’s way when a browser types in a set of keywords that your business corresponds to. It features search friendly URLs, Meta keyword fields and Meta description fields.


You can maximize and expand the potential of your business to the best it can be. The website design company Online Innovation Creations’ Exponent has the answer for you. You can make editing your website easier and more efficient, simplify your administrative tasks and enjoy great traffic, so what more can you ask for?